Clarias cavernicola

The golden cave catfish (Clarias cavernicola)[2] is a critically endangered species of airbreathing catfish.[3] This cavefish is only known to live in the Aigamas cave, Otjozondjupa region, Namibia.[4][5] It has also been reported from the nearby Dragon's Breath Cave, but this is an error.[6] The golden cave catfish lack pigmentation and are up to 16.1 cm (6.3 inches) in standard length.[5] They have very small eyes that are covered with skin, and are probably effectively blind.[5] They feed on detritus and invertebrates that fall into the lake in which they live. The population is estimated at 200–400 individuals.[7] Little is known about its reproduction, and attempts to breed it in captivity have failed.[8] The population is threatened by chance events and water extraction from the cave lake, which has resulted in a drop of the water level.[3]

Golden cave catfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Clariidae
Genus: Clarias
Species:
C. cavernicola
Binomial name
Clarias cavernicola
Trewavas, 1936

It is the only known cavefish in mainland Southern Africa.[9]

See also

References
  1. Bills, R. (2007). "Clarias cavernicola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007: e.T63363A12662977. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63363A12662977.en.
  2. "Clarias cavernicola". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 24 January 2006.
  3. Skelton (1996). "Clarias cavernicola". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1996. Retrieved 11 May 2006.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) Listed as Critically Endangered (CR B1+2c, E v2.3)
  4. Cave catfish (Clarias cavernicola) at ARKive Archived 2005-11-26 at the Wayback Machine. Images of Life on Earth
  5. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). "Clarias cavernicola" in FishBase. December 2011 version.
  6. Proudlove, G.H. (2018–2019). "Clarias cavernicola". cavefishes.org.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  7. Bruton, M. N. (1995). "Threatened fishes of the world:Clarias cavernicola Trewavas, 1936 (Clariidae)". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 43 (2): 162. doi:10.1007/BF00002486. S2CID 44350023.
  8. "Clarias cavernicola". 2005-02-19. Archived from the original on 2005-02-19. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
  9. Aldemaro, R., editor (2001). The Biology of Hypogean Fishes. Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes. ISBN 978-1402000768


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